Page 106 of Reckless Promises

My spine tingles as my entire body tenses. Pure evil radiates out of Joseph, and I know what I have to do.

He’s so close I’m bathing in the rage he has for my husband. So close that he doesn’t notice when I slip my hand lower and peel my hospital gown up just enough to grab the knife secured to my thigh. So close he doesn’t see me lift the knife Cillian gifted me between us.

It doesn’t matter if I’m outnumbered and this will likely be my end, I refuse to go down without a fight. I’ll be the mother my unborn child needs right now and hold that strength for them.

I sink the blade into Joseph’s side and smile for the first time in hours as I watch his face change.

Shock.

Pain.

Anger.

His expression shifts so fast that I almost miss it as it moves from one to the next. He releases my arm as I pull out the blade, and it’s silent for a moment while he processes what’s happening. Time might even stop in that second it takes him to realize what I’ve done.

Joseph’s mouth opens in slow motion, his jaw hanging slack as he watches me, not knowing what to make of the fact that I just stabbed him. But before he can speak—before I can move, before he can kill me—an explosion at the gate pulls everything back to this moment.

And my ears start ringing.

39

Cillian

Twenty-three: The number of minutes it took me to find out where Joseph took Odette.

Seventy-eight: The number of men I’m bringing with me.

Every-fucking-one: The number of people I’m going to kill when the gates blow open, because they took my wife.

The explosion rings out, and even if we’re stopped far enough away from the gate that nothing will hit the car, dust blooms in a mushroom at the edge of the Moreno family manor.

It’s a rookie move that they brought her here, but I shouldn’t be surprised. His fortress makes him feel safe because it’s loaded with security and ammunition. But it doesn’t matter. I have more.

While Shane works with Adam and Brandon to take out the Bardots and Rocheforts quietly, I’m ready for an all-out war.

Joseph Moreno had the nerve to have his team reach out to Daniel like this was a negotiation. He actually thought he could take my wife and then use her to bargain for my sister’s hand in marriage. Clearly, everyone underestimates what it means that I’ve returned. They think I’m weaker than my father because I want to operate my businesses legally.

They’re wrong. And I’m about to prove it to them, starting with Joseph Moreno.

The car pulls forward as the gate blows, and I climb out the second it stops again. My men are rushing every side of the property, but my focus is on the front. On the town car still idling at the bottom of the steps. And on the girl with dark hair and wild green eyes standing beside it.

I found her.

Odette is still in her hospital gown. It’s blowing in the wind, and even from here, I don’t miss that she’s shivering. And when her eyes meet mine at a distance, and a sheen coats the beautiful emerald gems, I find my purpose.

In this moment.

In life.

In her.

My wife is everything.

My gaze moves down her body to the knife she’s clutching. The gift I gave her is stained in blood as Joseph Moreno stumbles back a step.

Warmth blooms in my chest. She’s pale, tired, bracing herself against the car. But she was still strong enough to put up a fight. And I’m so fucking proud she stabbed him.

I rush forward, but not fast enough. Joseph is already steaming with rage as he lunges at her, and the shock of his body striking hers is enough for her to drop the knife to the ground. She stumbles as her back hits the car and her green eyes widen with fear.

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